Prometheus had his roots firmly anchored in the earth at Wheeler Park in the U.S. state of Nevada for almost 5000 years. Then in 1964, the ancient Great Basin bristlecone pine with the mythological name was felled – by a student who valued his research over the life of the evergreen tree. Remains of the trunk can now be viewed at the visitor center of the Great Basin National Park. One of the reasons the park was founded in 1986 was to provide a protected habitat for living members of Prometheus’ species.

GETTING THERE FROM GERMANY

Lufthansa operates several weekly flights from Frankfurt (FRA) and Munich (MUC) to Los Angeles (LAX). Continue via Las Vegas to the town of Ely, then it’s roughly an hour’s drive from the Great Basin National Park.